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Ethics/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby A boy, Tim, is painting a figurine. A robot, Moby, rushes over to Tim carrying an armful of paper. He is dressed as an old-timey news reporter with a green visor on. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Say what? Moby hands Tim a letter. Tim reads from the typed letter. TIM: Dear Robot Ethicist, Mr. Andersen pays me $6 an hour to mow his lawn. It usually takes me two hours, but last week, I got it done 30 minutes faster. He already paid me in advance. Is it ethical for me to keep the money? From, Amber TIM: You're the paper's new ethics columnist? MOBY: Beep. TIM: Okay, let's see your response. Moby hands Tim his response. Tim reads from the typed response. TIM: Dear Amber, Ethical, shmethical, just live in the moment! Best, Moby. TIM: Do you even know what ethics is? Moby shrugs. Tim sighs. TIM: All right, how should I begin? If you've ever watched a nature video, you may have noticed that animals behave a little selfishly. They act on their urges, without much regard for other creatures. Images show a hawk swooping down to catch a rabbit, two rams butting their horns, and a shark opening its mouth to eat a seal. TIM: People are a little different. We care about how our actions will affect others. But we are part of the animal kingdom, so we still struggle with selfish urges. An animation shows a man with a halo over his head. It disappears after Tim says people struggle with selfish urges. TIM: We want stuff for ourselves, whether it's food and money, or more complex things like love and popularity. The animation shows the man's thought bubble depicting him as a king being served platefuls of food. He's also served a gold trophy with a number 1 written on it. TIM: Can you imagine what would happen if everyone acted on these desires? MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yep: total breakdown in society. An animation shows looting, fires, and a taxi driving into a fire hydrant on a city street. TIM: Fortunately, we've evolved a sense of morality, or right and wrong. An animation shows a woman standing between a check mark and an X, which represent right and wrong respectively. TIM: This sense guides us to believe in certain values: lying is wrong, kindness is good, that sort of thing. Values, in turn, help us make ethical decisions: choices that we feel good about. An image shows two columns of words under the headings Good and Bad. Love, Honesty, and Kindness appear in the Good column. Hate, Lying, and Cruelty appear under in the Bad column. TIM: So you can think of ethics as a set of guidelines for behaving morally. An image shows a balance scale weighing Good and Bad. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, let's take this first letter of yours. If you take $12 for mowing the lawn in ninety minutes, your wage will be $8 an hour. That's deceptive, because you agreed to work for $6 an hour. And lying is morally wrong. Amber is standing on Mr. Andersen's lawn, holding the money he paid her. Mr. Andersen waves at her. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Why? Well, our inner moral sense tells us it is. That's why so many ethical systems forbid it. Most religions and philosophies frown on dishonesty. An animation shows Moses holding the ten commandments. TIM: And our legal codes prohibit certain kinds of lying, too. It's a crime to make false statements to the police, or in a court of law. An image shows a man being sworn in at court. TIM: And if you're in business, it's illegal to make false claims to the public. An image shows a magazine ad using a split image of a woman's face. One side shows wrinkles and gray hair, the other side has blond hair and no wrinkles. It makes the impossible promise of less wrinkles in one month. MOBY: Beep? TIM: It might help Amber to imagine herself in Mr. Andersen's place. Mr. Andersen stands in his backyard. His face changes to Amber's and she looks disappointed. TIM: No one likes being lied to. Mr. Andersen might not trust her to mow his lawn again if he finds out. Mr. Andersen looks sternly at Amber. His speech bubble image shows an X placed over the lawn mower. TIM: Amber should admit that it only took ninety minutes to mow the lawn, and offer to give $3 back. She might lose a couple bucks, but her reputation is more important than money. Amber gives $3 back to Mr. Andersen. TIM: Anyway, that was an easy one. What else have you got? MOBY: Beep? Moby hands Tim a letter. Tim reads from the typed letter. TIM: Dear Robot Ethicist, Yesterday, I caught my friend Steve cheating off my test. He's never done it before, and he begged me to keep it secret. If his parents find out, he'll be grounded for weeks. What should I do? From, Anthony. TIM: Hmm, this one is a bit trickier. We know that cheating is wrong, and every school has rules against it. An animation shows Steve cheating while taking a test at school. Anthony is sitting in front of Steve, and Steve peers over Anthony's shoulder to look at his test paper. A No symbol is placed above them. TIM: On the other hand, friendship carries its own ethical obligations. Friends should be loyal, and try to help each other out. An animation shows Anthony in front of a balance scale weighing the school code of conduct against friendship. TIM: By telling your teacher, you'd be betraying Steve. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Yep, it looks like we've got an ethical dilemma, a situation with no clear-cut right answer. The balance scale does not balance in favor of either side. TIM: It may seem silly, but making a list of arguments for each action can be super helpful. The school code prohibits cheating, and you could get in trouble if your teacher finds out. But your friend will fail the test and get grounded if you say something. Still, friendship cuts both ways: it wasn't fair for Steve to put you in this position. Hm, there are definitely more reasons to speak up than stay quiet. A two-column list of arguments appears. One side is Tell Someone and the other side is Stay Quiet. The list shows four reasons to tell someone, and three to stay quiet, as Tim describes. An image shows their teacher holding up two failing test scores and another image shows Steve in the school's suspension room. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Unfortunately, there is no formula for acting ethically. You have to judge by the individual situation. Ask yourself: What solution is fairest to all the people involved? An animation shows Anthony thinking about his friend Steve, his teacher at school, and himself as well. TIM: Maybe you and Steve could go to your teacher together, and tell her about the situation. Steve could ask for a make-up test, or promise to do extra credit to keep his grades up. An animation shows Steve and Anthony speaking with their teacher. TIM: That way, he won't get away with cheating, and you won't betray his trust. MOBY: Beep? Moby shows Tim another letter. TIM: Nope. I was happy to help, but it wouldn't be ethical for me to answer all your letters. You're gonna have to rely on your own moral compass for the rest of these. MOBY: Beep. Moby's chest opens up to reveal a spinning compass. Tim taps it. TIM: This explains so many things.Category:BrainPOP Transcripts